WADE, BENJAMIN F. 



a white man, and the officer who gave the 

 flogging was a negro constable. 



A decision was made by Judge Rives of the 

 United States District Court that under the 

 " civil-rights act " a colored man is not tried 

 by his peers unless there are negroes in the 

 jury-box. The decision grew out of the trial 

 of Burwell and Lee Reynolds, colored brothers, 

 for the murder of a white man, Aaron C. Shel- 

 ton. They asked the State Circuit Court for 

 a jury of both whites and blacks, but were re- 

 fused this petition, as no proof could be offered 

 that the white jurors were prejudiced or in- 



WELLES, GIDEON. 



825 



competent. Their prayer that the cause might 

 bo removed to the United States courts was 

 also denied. A jury of white men, after twice 

 trying the prisoners, disagreed in the case of 

 one brother, and found the other guilty. A 

 petition was then presented to Judge Rives for 

 a new trial, on the ground that blacks were 

 illegally excluded from the jury. He not only 

 decided as above stated, but added, further- 

 more, that their petition for a removal to the 

 United States courts ended State jurisdiction, 

 and nullified subsequent proceedings in its 

 courts. 



WADE, BENJAMIN FKANKLIN, died at Jeffer- 

 son, Ashtabula County, Ohio, March 2, 1878. 

 He was born near Springfield, Mass., October 

 27, 1800. His father was a soldier of the Rev- 

 olution, and his mother was the daughter of a 

 Presbyterian clergyman. Having received a 

 limited education, he started when about twen- 

 ty-one years of age for Illinois, but proceeded 

 no farther than Ashtabula County, Ohio. For 

 several years he was employed in teaching 

 school and in agricultural and other manual 

 pursuits. In 1828, after studying law about 

 two years, he was admitted to the bar, and 

 began practice in Ashtabula County. In 1835 

 he was chosen prosecuting attorney of that 

 county, and in 1837 was elected to the State 

 Senate. He was then a Whig, and in 1840 

 earnestly advocated the election of General 

 Harrison to the Presidency. He also became 

 distinguished at this time for his opposition to 

 slavery and his efforts in behalf of the colored 

 race. In 1841 he was reflected for the second 

 time to the State Senate. In 1847 he was cho- 

 sen by the Legislature as Presiding Judge of 

 the Third Judicial District of Ohio. He per- 

 formed the duties of this office till 1851, when 

 he was elected to the Senate of the United 

 States. He was twice reflected, and contin- 

 ued a member of that body till 1869. On en- 

 tering Congress he took a leading part in the 

 debates, and became a prominent advocate of 

 antislavery measures. In 1852 he was one of 

 the very few Senators who voted for the re- 

 peal of the fugitive slave law. He opposed 

 the bill to abrogate the Missouri Compromise, 

 the Lecompton Constitution for Kansas in 

 1858, and the appropriation of $30,000,000 for 

 the acquisition of Cuba. He had long been an 

 earnest advocate of the homestead bill, which 

 was finally passed in 1862, after it had been re- 

 ported by him. Before the war broke out Mr. 

 Wade was a member of the Joint Peace Com- 

 mission. He opposed all compromises be- 

 tween the North and the Soutli which were 

 proposed after Mr. Lincoln's election in 1860. 

 When the war was begun he urged that it be 

 prosecuted with the utmost vigor. He became 

 chairman of the Joint Committee on the Con- 



duct of the War, and advocated the passing of 

 a law confiscating the property of Southern 

 leaders and emancipating their slaves. In 

 1862, being chairman of the Committee on 

 Territories, he reported a bill providing for 

 the abolition of slavery in all the Territories of 

 the United States, and its prohibition in any 

 that might afterward be acquired. He also 

 reported the bill establishing negro suffrage 

 in the District of Columbia, \\hen Vice- 

 President Johnson succeeded to the Presiden- 

 cy on the death of Mr. Lincoln in April, 1865, 

 Mr. Wade became President pro tempore of 

 the Senate and acting Vice-President of the 

 United States. In March, '1867, he was elect- 

 ed President of the Senate. In 1869 he was 

 appointed a Government director of the Pacific 

 Railroad. The proposition to annex San Do- 

 mingo to the United States was approved by 

 him, and he was one of the commissioners sent 

 to that island in 1871 to report on the subject. 

 He did not afterward hold any public office, 

 but he continued to take an active interest in 

 politics. 



WELLES, GIDEON, died in Hartford, Conn., 

 February 11, 1878. He was born in Glaston- 

 bury, Conn., July 1, 1802. He entered the 

 Norwich University, Vermont, but left before 

 graduating and began the study of the law. 

 In 1826 he became the editor and one of the 

 proprietors of the Hartford "Times," a leading 

 Democratic journal. He continued to write 

 editorial articles for this paper for about thirty 

 years, though he did not assume the responsi- 

 bility of its editorial columns after 1836. From 

 1827 to 1835 he represented his native town of 

 Glastonbury in the Legislature. He was chosen 

 State Comptroller by the Legislature in 1835, 

 and elected to that office in 1842 and 1843. 

 From 1836 to 1841 he was Postmaster of Hart- 

 ford. In 1846 he was appointed by President 

 Polk chief of one of the bureaus in the Navy 

 Department, which position he held till 1849. 

 On the organization of the Republican party 

 Mr. Welles became identified with it, and in 

 1856 was the unsuccessful Republican candi- 

 date for Governor of Connecticut. In 1860 he 

 was a delegate to the Republican National Con- 



